Survey: Turkish businesses see ‘long EU journey’

Turkish companies are largely in favour of their country joining the EU, but the majority do not expect it to happen before 2015, according to a study presented two days ahead of the European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey.

70% of Turkish businesses support their country’s EU accession, but most believe this will not come soon, the new study shows. Only 10% said they expected Turkish accession before 2015, while two-thirds expect negotiations to last for at least 10-15 years. 

“The journey is long,” confirmed Pierre Simon, president of Eurochambres, the association of European chambers of commerce and industry, which conducted the survey jointly with the Turkish Union of Chambers (TOBB) among 2,878 Turkish businesses, 97% of which were SMEs. 

With EU membership a distant perspective, only 5% of Turkish companies described themselves as well-prepared for such a scenario. 72% said they had not started preparations for accession yet, mainly citing expected high financial costs, although 95% had not yet made a cost estimate. 

24% of businesses surveyed believe their country will actually never join the Union. This runs contrary to the feelings among Turkish citizens, with only 26% expecting their country to join the bloc at one point, according to a 2007 survey by the German Marshall Fund (see our Links Dossier). 

The main problem is that most businesses and citizens are not well informed about the state of the accession talks and the potential benefits of being an official candidate country, said Michael Leigh, the Commission’s director general for enlargement. 

61% of Turkish companies are not familiar with the EU’s existing body of legislation (the ‘aquis communitaire’) and two thirds have very little knowledge of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), which grants candidate countries and potential candidate countries flexible aid, the survey showed. 

“We have to overcome this information gap,” said Leigh, assisted by the Turkish ambassador to the EU, Volkan Bozkir, who claimed that support for the EU corresponded to the level of knowledge about the bloc and potential accession. 

59% of Turkish businesses said they were generally optimistic about their prospects in the event of Turkish EU entry, expecting more transparent business practices and a boost for the country’s long-term competitiveness, along with tougher competition. 

Turkey and the EU are already closely linked economically. The Union is the country’s largest trading partner, while Turkey ranks seventh among the bloc. Turkey became an official candidate country in October 2005, but talks are expected to last until 2015. 

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